Americans watch only 17 of their 189 cable channels

Viewers stick to same stations despite having more choices than ever

Despite having nearly 200 channels to choose from, the average American watches only 17, according to new research released by Nielsen.

The average U.S. home had access to 189 TV channels in 2013 — a record high and significant jump from the 129 available in 2008, Nielsen’s “Advertising & Audiences Report” found. Despite this increase, consumers aren’t watching any more channels than before. This supports the theory that more content does not necessarily equate to more channel consumption, the report says: “That means quality is imperative for both content creators and advertisers.”

Customers are getting less value for their money, says technology consultant Jeff Kagan. “Cable companies keep adding more channels to watch and keep increasing the price we pay month after month, yet we still only watch the same channels,” he says. “We pay roughly double this year compared to what we paid ten years ago.” Cable bills have more than doubled over the last decade and the national average bill — currently $90 a month — will hit $200 in 2020, estimates market researcher The NPD Group.

Snip-snip: Cord-cutting is on the rise

(3:04)

Giving television the boot and cutting the cable has jumped significantly in the past several years. The culprit? Online video streaming. WSJ deputy tech editor Brian Fitzgerald has the numbers on digits. Photo: AP.

Others say cable companies are generating high quality shows — from “The Walking Dead” on AMC to “Fargo” on FX — that have proved a hit with viewers, and there are only so many hours in the day. “This is good for consumers as it means there is more quality content to watch, on more channels,” says Dan Rayburn, a principal analyst with business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan. Like Netflix — which created its own series “House of Cards” — he says cable TV does well because of one key factor: choice.

This is a critical time for the cable industry, which is suffering the loss of some viewers and facing competition from online streaming services. The U.S. pay-television industry posted its first-ever full-year decline in subscribers, but it’s still modest given the number of pay-TV subscribers overall, according to a recent report by research firm SNL Kagan. Cable, satellite and telecom firms offering video services lost just over 250,000 video subscribers last year and have around 100 million subscribers, the report found.

However, customers are becoming increasingly unhappy with their monthly cable bill, Kagan says. Case in point: Over 80% of consumers already say their cable bills are too high, according to a 2013 survey by deal aggregator TechBargains.com. “Cable television companies use the amount of choice as a great excuse to raise rates several percent, year after year,” Kagan says. “I’ve been complaining about this for many years and nothing seems to happen. The investor likes this. It’s just the customer who doesn’t.”

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